Judge emeritus Philip Sciberras will be chairing the Embryo Protection Authority, health minister Godfrey Farrugia announced today.

The authority came under the spotlight last month when Dr Farrugia erroneously claimed that it had yet to be set up.

The authority was set up in January, and had been holding meetings in the ministry of health.

Seeing that Mater Dei had not yet applied for a licence to carry out IVF, PN MP Joseph Cassar had raised concerns in parliament, highlighting that follicle tracking procedures are being undertaken there.

“Patients are being seen at Mater Dei hospital without any standards being in place and without the public system being licensed to carry out IVF treatment. This is all occurring behind everyone’s back,” Dr Cassar had said in comment to this portal last month.

Dr Cassar warned that a dangerous precedent has been said, describing it as a potential “pandora’s box.”

Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia said he felt the need to dissolve the previous authority due to a conflict of interest of one of its members.

Family therapist Sonia Attard, paediatrician Patrick Sammut, psychologist Pauline Baldacchino, and psychotherapist Maryane Bonnici have also been appointed to the authority.

See: http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-04-25/news/health-minister-gets-it-wrong-in-parliament-1460371456/